indians of the great basin - Museum Volkenkunde

INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: 

THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE 

Chief Severo and his family, c. 1890; Detroit Photographic Company. 

Colophon 

Text Pieter Hovens & Jiska Herlaar © 

Editors 

English editor 

Photography 

Museum website 

The Curator 

Paul L.F. van Dongen & Marlies Jansen 

Enid Perlin 

Ben Grishaaver (museumobjects) 

www.rmv.nl 

Pieter Hovens (e-mail: p.hovens@rmv.nl)

INDIANS OF THE GREAT BASIN: THE 1883 FIELDWORK AND COLLECTION OF HERMAN TEN KATE 

PIETER HOVENS & JISKA HERLAAR © 

Digital publications of the National Museum of Ethnology 

Table of contents 

1. Indians of the Great Basin 

2. Herman ten Kate 

3. Fieldwork 

4. The Chemehuevis 

5. Chemehuevi art and material culture 

6. The Las Vegas Paiutes 

7. Southern Paiute basketry 

8. The Southern Utes 

9. Southern Ute art and material culture 

10. Indian-white relations 

11. Conclusion 

Acknowledgements 

Appendix 

References 

1




1. Indians of the Great Basin 

The Great Basin is a desert region in the American West in which Native American peoples 

developed a distinct culture attuned in sophisticated ways to their desert ecosystem, a 

culture necessitated by the precarious nature of their environment. The Great Basin culture 

area lies between the Rocky Mountains in the east, and the Sierra Nevada and Cascade 

Range in the west. It covers the states of Nevada and Utah, western Colorado and western 

Wyoming, southern Idaho, and smaller areas of the adjacent states of Oregon, California, 

Arizona and New Mexico. 

The Great Basin culture area; after D’Azevedo 1986:ix. 

The Great Basin culture area is characterized by semi-desert and desert flatlands dissected 

by mountain chains. The region has the lowest rainfall and highest evaporation rate in the 

United States, and the resulting aridity has characterized the flora and fauna. Vegetation is 

sparse, and is dominated by a variety of drought-resistant grasses, sagebrush, cacti and 

succulents. Mountains are clad in juniper, piñon, scrub oak, pine, aspen, spruce and fir, 

depending on elevation. Typical animals of the Great Basin are a variety of reptiles, notably 

snakes and lizards; rodents, including mice, rats and squirrels; and hares and rabbits in 

some abundance. Pronghorn antelope, elk, bighorn sheep and mule deer were the largest 

mammals to be found there, although in small numbers. Other animal species of the Great 

Basin include mountain lions, coyotes and foxes. 

2




Impressions of the Great Basin landscape. 

Due to the relative paucity of food resources in the Great Basin, their limited productivity, and 

a seasonal harvest cycle, the number of Native Americans inhabiting this region was always 

low. The Indians who made it their homeland developed a nomadic lifestyle to exploit 

available food resources periodically, living and travelling in small groups, often as single 

families. All possible sources of food in the harsh desert environment needed to be exploited 

for survival. The men were the hunters, and the women gatherers of plant foods, although 

both sexes assisted each other when this was required. Hunters used bows, arrows, spears, 

clubs, nets and snares, and the men went after antelope, rodents, hares and rabbits, and 

reptiles. Communal hunts were organized to capture antelope and rabbits. Streams and 

lakes were sources of fish, turtles and ducks provided they did not dry up. The women were 

adept at weaving baskets in a large variety of forms and sizes, used for collecting, preparing, 

serving and storing food. With the help of digging sticks they unearthed roots, bulbs and 

tubers. Plant foods harvested in a seasonal cycle included roots, bulbs, cactus fruit, agave 

stalks, the seeds of mesquite, and a great variety of grasses, and nuts, especially piñons. 

Seeds and nuts were parched and ground into flour, from which porridge and cakes were 

made, the latter for underground storage, packed in skin bags. Caterpillars, grasshoppers, 

cicadas, fly and moth larvae, and ant eggs contributed to the diet. 

Groups of families formed a band and exploited the resources in their territory. Often they 

assembled in wintertime into a larger settlement, from which they went out on hunting and 

gathering expeditions, led by experienced men. Seeds, berries and nuts collected and stored 

over the summer and fall, provided necessary nutrition during the cold season, in addition to 

the prey caught in the hunt. On these occasions they lived in "wickiups", conical or domeshaped 

huts covered with brush, mats or bark. In the spring the people dispersed and 

traveled in nuclear or extended families, exploiting all available food resources. They built 

temporary wind and sun screens to shield themselves against the elements. Caves and rock 

shelters also provided protection. Men and women dressed in simple clothing, made from 

animal hides and skins, shredded bark and plant fibers. Rabbit-fur blankets provided 

protection against the cold. Women wove basketry hats for both sexes. 

Religious leadership was provided by shamans who cured the sick in healing rituals, and 

tried to influence the outcome of communal hunts by appealing to the spirits. Those 

appearing in dreams were regarded as sources of individual personal power. In sweat huts 

Indians periodically purified themselves, physically and mentally. 

Most of the Indians encountered by the first explorers and settlers in the Great Basin spoke 

languages belonging to the Uto-Aztecan family: Paiutes, including Bannocks and 

Chemehuevis, Utes, Shoshones and Kawaiisu. The relation of the language of the Washoes 

has not yet been satisfactorily established, although a Hokan source is most likely. 

3




Until the arrival of the white man, the culture of the Native Americans of the Great Basin 

remained relatively unchanged from the establishment of a general Desert Archaic Culture 

about 8.000 years B.C. However, the presence of man might be much older in this region, 

and may date back to Paleo-Indian times, as for example at Fort Rock Cave in Oregon. 

Archeological research focussed on this issue continues 1 . 

Fort Rock Cave, Oregon. 

4




2. Herman ten Kate 

Herman Frederik Carel ten Kate was born in 1858 in Amsterdam, but grew up in The Hague. 

The Ten Kate family was blessed by the muses, since it counted many painters and literary 

men among its members. Ten Kate's father was a popular painter in his time and received royal 

patronage. It was his modest fortune which enabled Ten Kate jr. to abandon his early artistic 

education at the Art Academy and register as a student of medicine, geography, non-western 

languages and Indonesian ethnology at the University of Leiden in 1877. Although this shift 

from art to science was remarkable, it was a natural outcome of his personal development. As 

he was an avid reader of popular juvenile literature, an interest in Native North American 

peoples and cultures had taken hold of the young boy, and the books of James Fennimore 

Cooper, Gustave Aimard, Friedrich Gerstäcker and Mayne Reid cluttered his shelves. In 1876 

Ten Kate went to Corsica on a painting trip, accompanying Charles van de Velde, a friend of his 

father. With stories of his adventures and research in the East Indies and South Africa, Van de 

Velde encouraged Ten Kate's smouldering interest in non-western peoples and cultures. 

However, back in Holland it took some effort to persuade his father to support his son's 

decision on a new career. 

The year 1877 also marks the beginning of academic anthropology in the Netherlands, since 

the first chair in (Indonesian) anthropology was established at the University of Leiden. It was 

occupied by P.J. Veth, whose topical and regional interests ranged far beyond the Dutch colony 

in Asia, since he also became an authority on early sources on African cultures. Moreover, 

some interest was devoted to Native American cultures in the West Indies, where Holland ruled 

over the colonies of Surinam and the Dutch Antilles. Under Veth's guidance Ten Kate was 

encouraged to develop his Americanist interest to the full. During his time in Leiden he 

published his first article on North American Indians. 

Herman ten Kate, 1881. 

After two years Ten Kate transferred to Paris, where he studied under Paul Broca and Paul 

Topinard at the Ecole d'Anthropologie, specializing in physical anthropology. He developed a 

friendship with E-T. Hamy, who shared his Americanist interests. In the autumn of 1880 he 

worked at the University of Berlin, where he received guidance from Adolf Bastian and probably 

attended a number of the courses in ethnology Bastian was teaching at that time. Over the next 

two years he continued his medical, zoological and geographical studies at the academic 

institutions of Göttingen and Heidelberg, meanwhile pursuing his doctoral research on 

Mongoloid crania. In April 1882 he received a Ph.D. in zoology from Heidelberg university. 2 

5




It was an explicit interest in non-European peoples, notably Native North American cultures, 

which had prompted Ten Kate to enter university. He chose courses which would qualify him 

for anthropological research: Indonesian ethnology and geography, Indonesian and Oriental 

languages, historical geography, and comparative anatomy. Practical considerations with 

regard to future salaried employment obliged him to specialize in the natural sciences and 

non-western languages, concentrating on zoology for an early Ph.D., and on medicine, in 

which field he received his M.D. in 1895 after further studies at the universities of Halle, 

Montpellier, Heidelberg and Freiburg. Herman ten Kate was thus a typical representative of 

the early phase in the development of anthropology as an academic discipline. 3 

6




3. Fieldwork 

Having developed an early interest in North American Indians, Ten Kate planned an exploratory 

fieldwork journey to the western United States and northern Mexico. He received scientific 

guidance and practical advice from his tutors in Leiden, Paris and Berlin, and material support 

from Dutch and French scientific societies. However, most of the costs of his first fieldwork 

were borne by his always supportive and generous father. 

The primary aim of Ten Kate's first fieldwork in North America was to obtain a first-hand and 

representative impression of aboriginal tribal cultures and their current state under white 

political and cultural domination. His research among the Iroquois in Upper New York State in 

the autumn of 1882 led to a strengthening of an already apparent salvage approach in his first 

fieldwork. 4 However, Ten Kate also defined other specific objectives of his travels and 

researches: the classification of physical types, the collection of ethnographic artifacts, the 

determination of intertribal relationships on the basis of physical anthropological, ethnolinguistic 

and ethnographic data, and the description and analysis of the influence and consequences of 

white domination over Indian societies. To this effect he collected and studied scientific 

literature; purchased artifacts; made physical anthropological and ethnographic observations; 

held interviews with key Indian and white informants; measured many Indians; collected skulls 

and skeletal material, and completed the standard vocabulary lists of the Bureau of American 

Ethnology. 5 

During his 1882-1883 fieldwork in the American West, Ten Kate was able to acquire over three 

hundred ethnographic artifacts for the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden. Series 361 was 

purchased with a grant from the Holland Academy of Sciences. The acquisition of series 362, 

which includes the Great Basin materials, was rendered possible with a grant from the 

Department of the Interior, of which the museum was a part at that time. Ten Kate purchased 

additional artifacts with private funds, and he acquired additional artifacts in 1887-1888, when 

he was a member of the Hemenway Southwestern Archaeological Expedition. 6 A catalogue of 

the Ten Kate collection, now consisting of approximately four hundred artifacts, is in progress. 

Ten Kate in Camp Apache, August 1883. Photo: C. Duhem. 

7




In 1885 Ten Kate published a voluminous book, written in Dutch, on his 1882-1883 travels and 

fieldwork, and an English translation has just been published. 7 In addition he published 

numerous articles on his research in scientific periodicals in the Netherlands and France. Part 

of his Hemenway Expedition diary was only published in 1925 in a collection of his travel 

narratives, and has recently been translated. 8 These writings, as well as his personal letters, 

provide us with a great deal of information about his travels and researches. 

After a first visit to the Iroquois of Upper New York State in the fall of 1882, Ten Kate traveled to 

the Southwest and conducted fieldwork among the Tiguas of Ysleta del Sur near El Paso, the 

Tohono O'odham (Papagos) at San Xavier del Bac, and the Yaquis near Guaymas, Sonora. 

Accompanied by the British ornithologist Lyman Belding, he excavated burial sites and 

documented rock paintings in southern Baja California. 9 After leaving Mexico in April 1883, he 

spent some time among the Quechans near Yuma. 10 Subsequently he planned to conduct 

fieldwork among the Mohaves on the Colorado River, and continue his research among the 

Pimas. However, when he heard about a Chemehuevi village on the Colorado River Indian 

reservation, he planned to pay at least a visit to that settlement. He also accepted an 

unexpected opportunity for visiting the Las Vegas division of the Southern Paiutes further 

upstream. 11 8




4. The Chemehuevis 

Ten Kate left Yuma by buckboard on April 21, 1883. Crossing the Gila River he almost lost his 

luggage when his wagon sank into a mud hole in the middle of the stream. Only with great 

difficulty did the six horse-team manage to pull the wagon and its load onto the bank. At Castle 

Dome Landing he encountered several Apache Yumas. The journey continued across the 

barren Chocolate Mountains and along the Colorado River, and in the early evening of April 24 

Ten Kate arrived in Ehrenberg, where he was forced to spend several days waiting for transport 

by buckboard to the Mohave and Chemehuevi Agency at Parker. From April 28 to May 6 he 

conducted fieldwork among the Yuman-speaking Mohaves, during which time he visited the 

Chemehuevi settlement, twelve miles from the agency headquarters. 

On May 7 Ten Kate boarded the stern-wheeler "Mohave" and travelled northward by way of 

Aubrey's Landing, Chemehuevi Valley and Needles to Fort Mohave, where he continued his 

research among the Mohaves for several days. He made the acquaintance of Indian inspector 

general C.H. Howard, and agreed to visit the Southern Paiutes further upstream with this official 

from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. On May 13 they embarked on a steamer, and journeyed 

upstream, passing Hardyville and Boulder Rapids, stopping at Cottonwood Island, continuing 

past Painted Canyon, and arriving at El Dorado Canyon, a mining camp in southern Nevada, on 

the evening of May 15. The next day Howard called together the local Paiutes, providing Ten 

Kate with an opportunity for making observations and interviewing several Indians. 

The Colorado River at Black Canyon; lithograph by Balduin Möllhausen, 1858. 

According to the Indian Agent's annual report, the reservation harboured 811 Mohaves and 215 

Chemehuevis, the latter living in the northwestern corner of the reservation on the Californian 

side of the Colorado River. During his fieldwork Ten Kate noted linguistic, physical, and 

psychological differences between the Mohaves and Chemehuevis. Because the Chemehuevi 

language sounded much harsher than the melodious Mohave-Yuman, Ten Kate tried to 

determine its linguistic affiliation. On the basis of his ethnolinguistic knowledge he concluded 

that the Chemehuevis were a division of the Paiutes. He later found this conclusion supported 

by the name by which the Indians called themselves: "Tontewaits", meaning "those of the 

south". They formed the most southern division of the Southern Paiutes. 

9




Regional groups of Southern Paiutes; after Kelly and Fowler 1986:369. 

The Chemehuevis also differed physically from the Mohaves, being shorter and less robust, 

with flatter faces. The shape of their skulls was deemed to be brachycephalous (broadly 

shaped) and they resembled the Mohaves in this respect. They had peculiar moustaches, the 

middle part of which was shaved off, leaving only the ends near the corners of the mouth. Ten 

Kate managed to take the physical measurements of fourteen men, but only after he had made 

them believe that this was in order to determine the size of hats the government would provide: 

an early example of anthropological ethics in fieldwork. 

The Chemehuevi dwellings were similar to those of the Quechans and Mohaves. Their earth 

lodges or winter houses were built in shallow excavated pits, which were surrounded by beams 

and poles, given a flat roof, and then covered with earth and mud. Shapes varied from round to 

oblong and rectangular. They also constructed separate sweat lodges. Their pottery also 

resembled that of the Colorado River Yumans. Ten Kate bought a pair of white deerskin boots, 

called pagap by the Indians. The acquisition of traditional ethnographic objects was virtually 

impossible according to Ten Kate, since most expressions of traditional material culture had 

vanished. Only basketry was still being produced, and he admired its quality, as a competent 

judge after seeing ethnographic collections in several European and American museums, and 

having visited the Tohono O'odham (Papagos) earlier. Ten Kate saw similar baskets among the 

Quechans and Mohaves, and assumed that the Chemehuevis traded their craftwork with these 

tribes. 

Ten Kate paid a visit to Thomas, the chief of the Chemehuevis. However, it seems that the 

head man was not much use as an informant because he was actively engaged in a game of 

cards in a sweat house, and did not want to be disturbed. His face was painted red, but he wore 

a western-style black hat like most of his tribesmen. Few Chemehuevis, however, spoke 

English or Spanish. Most used Mohave in their dealings with that tribe, since few Mohaves were 

able or willing to master the Southern Paiute language. Interethnic sexual relations with whites 

were much more frequent among the Chemehuevis than the Mohaves, resulting in a 

considerable number of mixed-blood Indians. Many women left the tribe to live with their white 

husbands in mining camps and frontier towns. 

10




Ten Kate was aware of the fact that the federal government had forcefully removed the band 

from their fertile Chemehuevi Valley to the arid desert reservation, an "unselfish" act as he 

noted cynically, clearly showing where his sympathies lay. A number of Chemehuevi children 

visited the agency day school, which was established in 1881. The women teachers told Ten 

Kate that the Chemehuevi youngsters were generally more intelligent than their Mohave 

counterparts. They had observed the same for boys as compared to girls. Intertribal 

personality differences were also noted, the Chemehuevis being headstrong and unforgiving 

while the Mohaves were impulsive but lighthearted and humorous, according to the notes 

made by the Dutch anthropologist. Among the Chemehuevis Ten Kate purchased several 

clay effigies, several baskets, items of dress, a flute and a war club. 

11




5. Chemehuevi art and material culture 

"Mohavezation" of the Chemehuevis explains the similarity in dwellings and pottery of the two 

tribes as noted by Ten Kate. The Mohave type of summer house was even found as far north 

as the Moapa Paiutes. 12 His observation of the similarity in the pottery of the Quechans, 

Mohaves and Chemehuevis was as much the result of the Mohave trading their wares with 

neighbouring groups, as the Chemehuevis producing their own pottery and being substantially 

influenced by their neighbours' craftwork. 13 It was the women who made the pottery, a fact not 

mentioned by Ten Kate, who probably saw only finished vessels in Indian households. The 

Southern Paiutes, including the Chemehuevis, had their own pottery tradition which was less 

developed because of their semi-nomadism. Moreover, pottery making declined substantially 

soon after the arrival of white settlers and the introduction of western trade goods among most 

bands. 14 

At the agency school on the Mohave Indian Reservation, Ten Kate acquired four small pottery 

busts of people, made by a Chemehuevi girl by the name of Topilla who showed artistic talent. 

Pottery effigies by Topilla, Chemehuevi (RMV 362-205, 206, 207, 208). 

It is not known whether the pottery classes in which these were made were part of the 

conventional art training in the school’s regular curriculum, or whether these classes were 

organized because of the strong pottery tradition among the Mohaves, a tradition later adopted 

by the Chemehuevis. Topilla’s name was carved in the base of one effigy, something probably 

encouraged by her teacher, but possibly suggested by Ten Kate. Small pottery effigies had 

been made for a long time among the Paiutes, and were used as children's toys. 15 

Ten Kate collected four baskets which he listed as Chemehuevi. The study of Chemehuevi 

basketry has been neglected by anthropologists. Single observations on the craft are scattered 

12




throughout the literature, but do not provide a clear or coherent picture, let alone a complete 

one. Clara Lee Tanner 16 has provided the best study to date, based on an analysis of the large 

Birdie Brown collection at the Colorado River Indian Tribes Museum, as well as many items 

from other private collections and museums. One of the pieces collected by Ten Kate in 1883, 

and identified by him as Chemehuevi, fits well into the characterization of the Chemehuevi style 

of basketry as defined by Tanner. 

RMV 362-191 

RMV 362-191 is a small jar, round and bulbous in shape. It is coiled clockwise, a peculiar 

characteristic of Chemehuevi basketry, as are the three willow rods constituting the foundation 

of the coils, which are wrapped with light-coloured willow (Salix). The Chemehuevis 

distinguished two species of willow, both of which were probably used for their basketry, and 

which they called sagah and kanavi . 17 The design, applied in three horizontal bands around the 

jar at the top, in the middle and on the bottom, is done in black devil's claw (Proboscidea 

altheaefolia). Each band shows a different pattern: triangles at the top; a white zigzag pattern 

results from two interlocking bands of black triangles around the middle; and a stepped block 

band surrounds the lower part of the jar. The top pattern is separated from the rim coil, and the 

final coil is finished in black, another characteristic of Chemehuevi basketry. 18 

Chemehuevi basketry trays (RMV 362-118, 119). 

13




Chemehuevi basketry bowl (RMV 362-192). 

The other three Chemehuevi baskets collected by Ten Kate also fit the tribal craft as 

characterised by Tanner. All are coiled clockwise, using a three-rod foundation: a parching tray 

(RMV 362-118), a bowl with a faded pattern on the outside (RMV 362-119) and a large bowl 

with several block bands forming a checkered pattern (RMV 362-192). The Chemehuevis 

regarded designs on baskets as the personal property of weavers, and did not infringe this 

informal rule. 

Although some authors have stated that the Chemehuevis only made coiled baskets, others 

have qualified this statement. 19 (cf. Smith and Simpson 1964:16). Ten Kate saw twined conical 

burden baskets and winnowing trays still being produced in 1883. He was correct in assuming 

that the Chemehuevis traded their fine basketry with other Colorado River tribes. 

RMV 5910-44 

14




The "traditional headcloth" of the Chemehuevis mentioned by Ten Kate was probably the cap 

made of soft animal skin. The white moccasins were made of deerskin 20 , and Ten Kate 

purchased a pair of Chemehuevi boots made from that material (RMV 362-120), as well as a 

pair of moccasins (RMV 362-121). 

Chemehuevi footwear (RMV 362-120, 121). 

A Chemehuevi flute (RMV 362-122), probably made of elderberry wood, is also included in his 

collection. 21 Finally, a Chemehuevi war club (RMV 362-193) completes the small collection he 

brought back from the Chemehuevi and Southern Paiute territory. 22 The war club is of the 

"potato masher" type, made from hardwood, and consisting of a stick with a cylindrical head. It 

was the principal weapon of war for the Chemehuevis, and resembled Mohave war clubs. 23 

The head of the Leiden club is painted yellow, with a zigzag pattern painted in red, and red 

points in the middle of the triangle. 

Chemehuevi flute and war club (RMV 362-122 and 193). 

15




6. The Las Vegas Paiutes 

Ten Kate saw the first members of the Las Vegas Paiute division when his boat stopped at 

Cottonwood Island to take on firewood. The fuel was delivered by the few Paiutes who lived on 

the island, and by that time they had virtually stripped it of its cottonwood and mesquite trees. 

On the Nevada shore rose Mount X. The Indians considered this as the place where their 

former paradise was situated. According to tribal oral tradition as told to Ten Kate, when they 

killed a good headman, the Great Spirit punished them by expelling the band to the hot river 

valley. 

After their arrival at Eldorado Canyon, General Howard let it be known that he wanted a 

meeting with the local Paiutes. Ten Kate estimated an Indian population of about a hundred 

Southern Paiutes on Cottonwood Island and at Eldorado Canyon. The meeting was 

unsuccessful since no interpreter was available. The brother of the temporarily absent 

headman, although able to speak some English, declined to answer Howard’s questions. He 

only declared that the Paiute loved the area, and that they had been born and raised there, 

apparently fearing government plans to remove them to a reservation. However, Ten Kate at 

last managed to find an informant willing to assist him in filling out the vocabulary list requested 

by the Bureau of American Ethnology. It is probable that this person also gave him some 

information about the Southern Paiute way of life. Comparing his vocabularies, Ten Kate 

concluded that Chemehuevi and Paiute were almost identical. When he undertook fieldwork 

among the Southern Utes in Colorado and the Comanches in Indian Territory some time later, 

he was convinced that these tribal languages were related to Chemehuevi and Paiute. 

Southern Paiute chiefs; photographed by Timothy O’Sullivan, 1871. 

The Paiutes called themselves "Nu", meaning "the people". Ten Kate noted their small to 

medium stature, lean but muscular build and wiry appearance. He distinguished two physical 

types, the first with a flat nose, receding forehead, and prognatism (protruding lower jaw), the 

second with a curved nose and high cheekbones, similar to the classic "Red Indian" type of the 

Plains. The men also shaved away the middle of their moustaches, leaving only the ends, like 

the Chemehuevis. 

Ten Kate's Las Vegas Paiute informant(s) told him that they still hunted mountain sheep (Ovis 

montana), and that grass seeds and mesquite beans were their main wild food resources. 

16




Jimsonweed (Datura stramonium) was chewed, producing a state of delirium. Their dwellings 

were very simple, consisting only of branches. The only crafts produced at that time were willow 

baskets, several of which he purchased. The Southern Paiutes cremated their dead. They were 

frequently at war with the Mohaves, taking scalps from their enemies, although the last battle 

had taken place more than ten years previously. The Indians considered the mountains along 

their stretch of the Colorado River to be the abodes of evil spirits. 

Las Vegas Paiute man with hunting weapons; photographed by John Hillers, 1872. 

Almost all Southern Paiutes wore "citizen dress" (western dress) and only a few still wore the 

traditional headcloth and white deerskin moccasins, the latter being exactly like those of the 

Chemehuevis. Paiute women had entered into unions with white men, which resulted in mixedblood 

offspring. A number of Paiute men were employed at the smelter in Eldorado Canyon, 

where silver was extracted from excavated rocks. Other Paiutes earned their living by gathering 

firewood and selling it to the smelter and the steamboat captains. Excessive consumption of 

alcohol was a serious problem, but the white American traders profited from this trade, a 

situation criticized by Ten Kate. 

Las Vegas Paiute women; photographed by John Hillers, 1873. 

On May 18 Ten Kate departed down river to continue his fieldwork, which would take him to the 

Pimas, Apaches, Pueblos, Navajos, Hopis, Zunis, Utes, Cheyennes and Comanches and the 

deported Southeastern tribes in Indian Territory. 24 

17




7. Southern Paiute basketry 

Among the Las Vegas Paiutes Ten Kate collected three twined baskets: a small conical 

carrying or seed basket, probably meant for a girl (RMV 362-123); a winnowing tray (RMV 362- 

124); and a small basket or woman's hat with two decorative bands. 25 

Southern Paiute basketry (RMV 362-124, 125 and 123). 

Twining is one of the oldest techniques with which plant fibres are woven into a variety of 

shapes, degrees of rigidity, and products, from flexible mats and bags to sturdy baskets and 

sandals. The winnowing tray was used to separate chaff and shells from seeds and nuts that 

were collected during the harvest season. The loosening of the chaff and opening of the 

pinenuts was accomplished by mixing hot charcoal with the seeds and nuts on the trays, and 

rhythmically tossing the contents of the tray into the air, continuing for as long as it took to 

dispose of the chaff and shells or to open the pinenuts. This required dexterity and 

attentiveness from the women, to avoid burning the trays. Depending on specific requirements, 

winnowing trays were woven tightly or open, in the latter case also functioning as a sieve. 

Conical carrying baskets came in all sizes, from small ones used by little girls imitating and 

helping their mothers in gathering a wide variety of edible seeds, to large ones used for carrying 

all kinds of household goods. 26 18




8. The Southern Utes 

After a visit to the Zunis, Ten Kate stayed in Santa Fe until 17 September 1883. He had 

planned a visit to the Southern Utes in Colorado, after which he wanted to continue his journey 

by way of the small town of Trinidad in Colorado, eastward through Kansas to Indian Territory. 

During this trip he had also planned to visit the Jicarilla Apaches who lived near the Utes, but 

the federal government had transferred them to a new reservation at Fort Stanton, where the 

Mescalero Apaches already lived. Ten Kate took the mail coach to Española on the Rio Grande 

River, in order to take the train through the mountains to Ignacio, the Ute Indian Agency. En 

route he saw pioneers in large wagons, heavily loaded with their belongings, pulled along by 

oxen. In Antonito, Colorado, he came upon a public trial in progress, but instead of watching it 

he decided to look for a place in which to have dinner and spend the night. The next day Ten 

Kate travelled through the mountains on the Denver & Rio Grande Railway by way of Chama 

and Amargo, the former Indian Agency of the Jicarilla Apaches. In Ignacio he took a buckboard 

to meet the Indian Agent, Warren Patten, in his office, where he also met an Indian Inspector. 

Patten was aptly named “Crosseye” by the Utes. The inspector commanded little respect since 

Ten Kate disparagingly remarked that his inspection of conditions on the reservation remained 

limited to the office of the Indian Agent. 

Ten Kate spent about ten days on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation. He enjoyed Ignacio 

because of its splendid location on the banks of Rio de Los Pinos, its high elevation with the 

invigorating mountain air, and the surrounding tree-clad mountains. He visited the nearby Indian 

encampment several times, travelled throughout the reservation on horseback to other camps, 

sometimes accompanying the agency physician Dr. White, and was present during an issueday 

when government rations were being distributed among the Indians, mainly beef and flour 

on this occasion. Much of this time he was accompanied by John Taylor, an Afro-American who 

had lived among the Utes for two or three years, and who worked for the army and agency as 

an interpreter. On all these occasions Ten Kate made notes of his observations and his 

conversations with individual Utes, who included Chiefs Ignacio, Severo, Buckskin Charley and 

Aguila. 

Chief Severo and his family, c. 1890; Detroit Photographic Company. 

19




Ten Kate stayed with the Southern Utes until 27 September and, after a four-day trip into the 

Rocky Mountains, he took the train to Indian Territory on 1 October, travelling by way of 

Cucharas and Trinidad. 27 On the basis of the literature available to him, and his observations 

and conversations on the reservation, Ten Kate composed a sketch of the Southern Utes. 

The Utes called themselves “Noots” or "Yutas", and were a powerful nomadic tribe living in 

Western Colorado, and before 1868 in large parts of Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico. A southeastern 

group of the Utes lived adjacent to the Kiowas in northern Texas on the Cimarron 

River. Some of their major tribes are the Uncompagres and Tabewaches, Wimenuches, 

Capotes and Muaches. The former two were transferred to the Uintah and Ouray reservations 

in north-east Utah in 1880. The Capotes and Muaches who used to live in northern New Mexico 

were forced to live in south-western Colorado together with the Wimenuches, and from then on 

they were called the Southern Utes, numbering approximately a thousand people on the 

reservation at the time of Ten Kate's visit. 

The Utes belong to the Numic-speaking family along with the Paiutes, Hopis and the 

Comanches. Their language was considered a difficult one for white people to learn, although 

Ten Kate’s Afro-American interpreter John Taylor had mastered it, and Ten Kate thought it was 

easier than Apache and Navaho to put into writing. After the enemies of the Utes pushed them 

into the Rocky Mountains they gradually lost their use of sign language. Ten Kate spoke 

Spanish with the Utes, a language most tribesmen could speak reasonably well. Only a few 

Utes knew some English words, but he predicted that English would soon replace Spanish, 

since the numbers of American settlers surrounding their reservation were increasing at a rapid 

rate. 

Chief Buckskin Charley, Southern Ute; lithograph by Pieter Haaxman (1885) 

after a photograph by Matthew Brady, c. 1880. 

Ten Kate encountered great difficulties in measuring the Utes, who appeared to be scared and 

recalcitrant. Because of his frequent visits to the camps, assisting the agency physician, he was 

able to overcome distrust and resistance to a certain extent, and eventually was able to 

measure ten men, whom he remunerated with money and tobacco. Women could not be 

20




persuaded to submit to somatological measurements. The imposing Chief Ignacio and Chief 

Severo also refused Ten Kate’s requests, and the latter chief engaged him in a discussion on 

his views on physical types, while the anthropologist tried to enlighten the chief about scientific 

theories in the field of comparative ethnic anatomy, albeit with little success. 

The anthropologist encountered two main physical types among the Southern Utes, and 

countless intermediate types. Ten Kate had never seen the first type before, but he was to 

encounter it later among the Kiowas. It was distinctive because of the large proportion of the 

face compared to the skull, and because of a slightly heavy, straight or somewhat upturned 

nose. A strongly receding forehead and heavy eyebrow ridges were also characteristic. The 

torso and arms were very muscular, the neck short, the shoulders broad and square. Although 

representatives of this type were above medium height, they appeared compact and massive. 

Some Utes were distinctly stout. They had light eyes and a light skin complexion. The second 

type was the “Red Indian type” found predominantly on the Plains. Ten Kate encountered those 

two types among half of the Ute population; the other half consisted of varying intermediate 

types. Some Utes had thick, wavy hair. Based on his observations of physical types, Ten Kate 

also assumed that relations had been intimate with Jemez Pueblo and the Jicarilla and Tonto 

Apaches. He also thought he detected influences from Jemez on Ute dress, and noted that a 

Ute dance was known in the pueblo. Intermarriage with the Jicarillas was common. 

Among the Utes there were no children of mixed blood, since there were virtually no sexual 

relations between Utes and whites. Mixed offspring were killed after birth, a fate that also befell 

the children of Afro-American John Taylor, and Chief Ignacio told Ten Kate that the children 

with the buffalo hair were killed immediately after they were born. Sexual relations between Ute 

men and women were liberal according to Ten Kate, and there were marriages between Utes 

and other Native Americans. Chief Ouray’s mother was a Jicarilla Apache. 

Chief Ouray and his wife Chipita, 1880. Photograph by 

Mathew Brady, Washington D.C. 

21




Southern Utes, Ignacio, Colorado, c. 1890; photographed by Rose and Hopkins. 

The Southern Utes appeared to be generally healthy, although many people suffered from 

goitre, possibly from a lack of iodine. Others showed signs of an advanced stage of syphilis. 

Acute rheumatism seemed to be the dominant illness, probably because of great fluctuations in 

temperatures, high humidity and life outdoors. 

Ute men were responsible for providing their family with meat and hides, and Ten Kate 

repeatedly saw men leaving to hunt deer, often staying away for several days, sometimes 

even weeks. They had virtually discarded bows and arrows, and instead used Sharp, 

Winchester and Ballard rifles. Prairie dogs (Cynomys) were part of their diet, and they hunted 

fowl, grouse (Canaces) being a favourite prey. Fishing was also common, and the mountain 

streams were rich in trout. Women were engaged in household duties: storing food, 

preparing meals, making clothing, applying beadwork, and looking after the youngest 

children. In pre-reservation times the women also gathered edible plants, including the 

cambium layer of pine trees, which contained sugar. During leisure time Ute men and 

women engaged in playing cards. The men also danced, accompanied by a drum. Target 

shooting with Sharp rifles was a favourite pastime, as were horse races, accompanied by 

serious betting with Navajo blankets, mountain-lion skins and weapons. Navajo Indians were 

among the spectators, and stood out against the Utes because of their greater height. The 

mood during these races was quiet and modest, a far cry from the boisterous atmosphere 

among white men at horse races. 

The Southern Utes did not farm, and refused to begin farming, despite persistent 

encouragement from the government. However, Ten Kate noted that they had little choice 

since the deer population decreased rapidly through over-hunting. Nevertheless, the 

mountain region did not permit farming on a large scale. Government rations were a shortterm 

solution, and buying food at the traders’ stores required cash, something which the Utes 

had difficulty obtaining, except when they sold horses; they owned approximately 2200 of 

these animals, all of good quality. They also owned a hundred cows and a thousand sheep 

that had been given to them by the government under the treaty provisions. These animals 

were herded on horseback by both men and women. 

22




Southern Utes crossing the Los Pinos River, Colorado, c. 1890; photographed by H.S. Poley. 

Ten Kate found the issue or ration day quite spectacular. The cattle provided by the 

government was driven together in a pen, and shot one by one by an agency employee and 

a Ute Indian. Each Indian family then dashed towards the animal assigned to it, and began 

butchering it, the women skinning the carcasses with agility and speed. While the ground 

was soaking with blood, on which the dogs tried to feast, the Indians cut up the animals, 

meanwhile eating parts of the innards while they were still warm. Only the livers were 

discarded. 

The Utes were fierce and courageous warriors, but they also had a reputation for chivalry. Their 

enemies were many, especially neighbouring tribes such as the Comanches, Cheyennes, 

Arapahos, and Kiowas with whom they competed in hunting buffalo on the Plains. Chief Aguila 

revelled in his stories about raids he had undertaken, and attributed his robust torso to the 

brains from a slain Cheyenne enemy he had eaten. In more recent times the Utes’ principal 

enemy was the white man, and settlers continued to encroach onto their lands. 

Ten Kate’s efforts to obtain information on the social organization of the Southern Utes proved 

fruitless, due to the evasive and conflicting information given by informants, and the complete 

lack of knowledge and disinterest on the part of the Indian Agent and his staff. 

Through his visits to Indian camps, and the assistance he gave to the sick and wounded, Ten 

Kate had gained some trust among the Utes, at least among the chiefs. They tactfully inquired 

what he thought of Warren "Crosseye" Patten, the Indian Agent, and the Indian Inspector from 

Washington. The agent commanded little respect, and during Ten Kate’s stay was physically 

attacked by Ojo Blanco, a prominent warrior who was inebriated at the time of the incident. Ute 

Indian policemen who witnessed the event were at first reluctant to act, but armed intervention 

by the agency’s cook brought them into action. 

Agency personnel and white settlers were wary of Indian resentment of the invasion of their 

homeland. They warned Ten Kate not to search for Indian skeletal remains, as this might cause 

violent opposition, or even worse. The anthropologist shared their fears but had to perform his 

scientific duty. He was very circumspect, but also unsuccessful, since the Utes buried their 

dead under rocks and branches, a perfect camouflage. When agency staff saw a fire signal on 

one of the mountain tops one evening, they came running to Ten Kate and blamed him for 

causing an Indian uprising. However, nothing happened. 

23




To Ten Kate the Utes appeared "carefree and cheerful", though not as "childlike and benign" as 

the Mohaves and Yumas. He attributed this difference in character to the Utes' more difficult 

living environment with its harsh winters, time-consuming and exhausting hunting as part of 

daily life, and the fact that being surrounded by enemies made life rather perilous at times. 

24




9. Southern Ute art and material culture 

Among the Southern Utes Ten Kate made many observations on their material culture. Ute 

men wore skin leggings and moccasins, the former beautifully decorated with beadwork, and 

with broad flapping panels along the seams. The moccasins were decorated with blue and 

white beads. In addition the Southern Utes dressed in western-style shirts and waistcoats, worn 

hanging loose. Some men wore small medicine bags as amulets, pinned to their clothes not far 

from their armpits (near the heart?). Some wore western-style hats. The women dressed in 

long robes, extending to mid-calf. Occasionally these were still made from leather, but 

increasingly from cotton and linen. Underneath the women wore plain leather leggings and 

undecorated moccasins. 

The men wore their hair parted in the middle or on the side in two long braids. The ends of the 

braids were wrapped with otter fur or red ribbons. The hair parting was often painted red or 

yellow. The women wore their hair loose on their back, shoulders and chest, usually parted in 

the middle and shorter than the men wore theirs. Most Ute men, especially the young 

generation, painted their entire faces with red and yellow pigment. They also plucked their 

eyebrows and eyelashes. The pigments were kept in a long flat skin bag decorated with glass 

beads. 

Their jewellery consisted of breastplates, necklaces made from beads and seashell (plastrons), 

finger rings, earrings and bracelets made of sterling silver or "Berlin silver", a low-grade zincsilver 

alloy. The beads and ground shells were sold at the trader’s store. The seashells were 

white, and reminded Ten Kate of the shells used on wampum belts he had seen. The valuable 

seashells were collected and fashioned for this purpose in the eastern United States and sent 

to trader's stores all across the American West. 

The Navajos made silver jewellery for the Utes using the American silver dollars the Utes gave 

them. For their horses the Southern Utes also had harnesses and saddles decorated with 

silverwork, provided by Navajo silversmiths. The saddles, made of wood and covered with 

rawhide, were used only by women. The saddles had a large knob at the front and back 

decorated with long fringes of soft white leather. 

Most Utes still lived in tipis. These were no longer made from buffalo hide, because the Indians 

were no longer allowed to hunt buffalo. The conical tents were now made from white or yellow 

canvas received from the US government. Utes still painted their kani (tipis) with war and 

hunting scenes, and signs that could only be interpreted by insiders. Smoke rose from the open 

tops into the mountain air. In the tipis Ten Kate saw Navajo and American blankets, animal 

hides, items of dress, weapons, household goods, and food all stored around the perimeter, 

while a fire burned in the centre. He mentions the use of brightly painted "parflèches" 

(rectangular rawhide containers) for storing dried meat and parflèche cylinders for storing small 

and ceremonial items. He also saw baskets and basketry water jars, which reminded him of 

Apache basketry. Babies and small children were carried around in cradle boards made of a 

wooden backboard, covered with leather. The headboard was wide to protect the child’s head, 

and gave the cradle a bulky appearance. Outside each tipi stood a tripod on which the owner 

usually kept his best clothes and equipment, to avoid soiling and damage. 

Among the Utes Ten Kate observed the use of the "calumet", the Indian pipe. According to 

his informants the Utes used to make their pipe bowls from a soft stone found near the 

Cimarron River in New Mexico. However, this practice was discontinued, since it was much 

easier to obtain pipe bowls through trade with the Comanches, who in turn received them 

through intertribal trade from their original source, the catlinite pipestone quarries of the 

25




Sioux in southwestern Minnesota. The pipes were valued possessions. When Ten Kate tried 

to buy a pipe, pipe bag and beaded tobacco pouch from a Ute man, the owner wanted a 

horse in exchange, a price the anthropologist could not afford, much to his regret. 

Chief Peah and family on Southern Ute Reservation; photographed by William Henry Jackson, 1874. 

Among the Southern Utes Ten Kate collected a wheat loaf and five artifacts: a purse, an awl 

case, a paint bag, a parflèche, and a tubular rawhide case. All were decorated with either 

beadwork or paint, and the specimens exemplify the strong Plains influence on the material 

culture of the Southern Utes. The Utes closest to the Spanish settlements in the northern Rio 

Grande Valley had begun to acquire horses before the mid-seventeenth century, and used 

these initially as beasts of burden. After the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 the number of Ute horses 

increased as the result of trade. In the course of the next century the most easterly of the Ute 

groups became equestrian nomads, living in tipis, hunting buffalo on the Plains, raiding for 

horses, and racing horses as a favourite pastime. However, after 1830 they were pushed back 

to the west by High Plains tribes, but in their way of life they continued the Plains pattern of 

equestrian nomadism as far as possible. Increasingly they hunted elk and deer, kept up a 

reputation as fierce warriors, and retained the Plains type of material culture. 28 

The awl case (RMV 362-20) Ten Kate collected in 1883 at the Southern Ute Indian Agency was 

unfortunately stolen in 1964 during an exhibition on the Plains Indians at the Leiden museum. It 

was beaded in white, yellow, blue, green and red, and a snake design ran down both sides, 

outlined once in red, once in black beads, oppositional colours in Ute colour symbolism. Red is 

associated with protection, represented in animal life by the weasel, while black stands for the 

negative power of the rattlesnake, and symbolizes the underworld. 29 The Southern Ute “purse” 

(RMV 362-19) Ten Kate acquired is much too small and tight to hold coins or ration tickets, and 

the small bag, made of thick hide was probably used to hold bone needles. Ten Kate’s original 

handwritten label has survived and reads PanáKoroKonoï, which makes its identification as an 

awl case more probable. The front panel is covered in white beads, and the small rectangular 

designs are executed in black and red, always in opposition towards each other, and in yellow, 

blue and pink. 

26




Southern Ute purse (RMV 362-19). 

Southern Ute paint bag (RMV 362-21). 

RMV 362-21 is a large paint bag, which still holds some yellow ochre. The background is 

beaded in white, and the rectangular and triangular designs are in red and blue. Tassels of tiny 

brass chains decorate the top and bottom. Ten Kate labels the parflèche as “leather travel bag” 

(RMV 362-202). It measures 95 by 40 centimetres, and is painted with geometric designs in 

green, red and black. Ten Kate applied the same label to the painted tubular case, noting the 

cylindrical shape. It is 38 centimeters long (RMV 362-203). 30 

27




Southern Paiute parflèche (RMV 362-202). 

Southern Paiute parflèche (RMV 362-203). 

Ten Kate was an avid collector, and this is reflected by a number of specimens in his 1882-83 

collection. These included hair samples taken from Pueblo Indians, a typical source of data for 

contemporary physical anthropologists engaged in the classification of physical types. Also 

represented were raw materials used by Indians for the manufacture and decoration of 

garments: sinew, porcupine quills, pigments, and raw turquoise. Among the specimens brought 

back from the Great Basin was a loaf of wheaten bread, which the Utes had baked. When 

searching the Leiden collection, a shallow rectangular box was located, less than half an inch in 

height, with the correct label: RMV 362-204. 

28




Ute bread (RMV 362-204) 

In it were the sorry remains of what had once been satisfying nourishment, which time had 

transformed into a jumble of dehydrated flakes and crumbs. After more than a century of 

preservation it is currently scheduled for de-accession. 

29




10. Indian-white relations 

Ten Kate repeatedly criticized the federal government’s forced removal of Indians from their 

tribal territories to reservations. The Chemehuevis were a case in point. The Mohave 

reservation was extended in 1874 to accommodate this group, which had been living relatively 

undisturbed in Chemehuevi Valley. However, groups of Chemehuevis were either voluntarily or 

forcibly removed from their homelands and relocated on the Colorado River Indian reservation. 

The removals took until 1907, when the Chemehuevi Valley Indian Reservation was established 

in eastern San Bernardino County, California, on the Colorado River. 31 In 1873 a reservation 

was established at Moapa, Nevada, for the Southern Paiutes, but soon after this the federal 

government forcibly reduced it to one-third its size. 32 

Among the Southern Utes Ten Kate became aware of continual white encroachment onto Ute 

lands, creating tensions and outbursts of violence at times. He learned about the invasion of 

prospectors and miners, and the treaties and agreements with the American government the 

Utes had been forced to sign, giving up their lands for increasingly smaller reservations. In 1879 

the White River Utes had confronted the army at Milk Creek, and Indian Agent Nathan Meeker 

had been killed. At Fort Lewis, on the border of the Southern Ute reservation, soldiers were 

garrisoned in case of hostilities. The attack in 1883 on Indian Agent Warren Patten at Ignacio 

by Ojo Blanco, a member of the 1880 Southern Ute delegation to Washington, could be partly 

explained by inter-ethnic tensions resulting from the occupation of Ute territory in Colorado, and 

the abuse of Native resources. 33 

At Ignacio Ten Kate witnessed a day on which food rations were distributed, as guaranteed by 

the treaties and agreements the Southern Utes had signed with the government. Ten Kate 

noted that the Southern lands were not fit for agricultural purposes, but only for ranching, and 

predicted the failure of the government program to turn the Southern Utes into farmers. They 

had a magnificent herd of 2200 horses, and from the government they had received a thousand 

sheep and a hundred head of cattle, which they herded across the reservation. 

Ten Kate regarded the administration of the Southern Ute Indian Reservation as a prime 

example of Federal mismanagement of Indian affairs. The Indian Agent was not professionally 

qualified for his responsible position, he knew little about the Ute's culture and language, and he 

was scarcely interested in his charges’ welfare. He only knew the immediate vicinity of his 

agency from first-hand experience, and never visited outlying areas, seldom encountering the 

Wimenuches, who lived on the western margins of the reservation and who later received their 

own Ute Mountain Reservation. The treatment of chiefs was an example of manipulative 

government policy. Although Chief Ouray had designated Buckskin Charley as Southern Ute 

leader on his deathbed, the American government recognized Ignacio instead, provided him 

and his family with extra rations, and appointed him as chief of the tribal police. Both Indian 

leaders tried to steer their people into an uncharted future in which they had given up their 

former tribal independence, but were guaranteed their place in American society under the 

protection of the law and the army. 34 30




Chief Buckskin Charley, Southern Ute; photographed in Washington, D.C. in 1880. 

31




11. Conclusion 

Ten Kate was a Dutch representative of a long line of European scientists who contributed to 

the early development of anthropology as an academic discipline, and North American Indian 

studies as a regional specialization. 35 While men like Bandelier, Mooney, Boas and Lowie 

worked in the United States throughout their careers, others remained in Europe and taught at 

universities, were curators of museum collections, or undertook Indian studies as a sideline to 

their main career in another field. European museums harbour numerous collections of 

archaeological and ethnographic artifacts and ethnohistoric photographs from Native North 

America, including the Great Basin area. Some institutions preserve unpublished diaries, field 

notes and correspondence. These materials will increasingly be made accessible in the near 

future, as a new generation of European academics has become interested in Native North 

American studies, and has become actively engaged in fieldwork, as well as studying the 

history of their specialist fields. 

32

Acknowledgements 




We would like to acknowledge the assistance rendered in various ways during the research for this digital 

publication, by the following persons and institutions: Meg McDonald, formerly of the Journal of California 

and Great Basin Anthropology; David Wilcox, Dorothy House and Barbara Thurber of the Museum of 

Northern Arizona (Flagstaff); Duane Anderson and Laura Holt of the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture 

(Santa Fe); members of the American Embassy in The Hague, especially Tilly de Groot; and Steven 

Engelsman, Willem Fermont, Sijbrand de Rooy, Conn Barrett, Dorus Kop Jansen, Paul van Dongen and 

Marlies Jansen of the National Museum of Ethnology (Leiden, Netherlands). The research for the Ten 

Kate project was partly funded by the Netherlands Research Council (NWO, The Hague), the 

Department of Health, Welfare, and Sports (VWS, The Hague) and the National Museum of Ethnology 

(RMV, Leiden). Additional contributions were received from Mrs. Ilse Boon (The Hague) and United 

Airlines (Amsterdam Office). Their support is gratefully acknowledged. 

33




Appendix 

The Southern Utes live in south-western Colorado on two reservations: Southern Ute and Ute 

Mountain. A number of Ute women still actively engage in beadwork, producing items for their 

own use at festive social and ceremonial occasions, or for sale to other Indians and white 

visitors. 

Trading posts and arts and crafts shops in Durango and Cortez offer beaded cradles, dress 

items, and jewelry. At Ignacio the Southern Ute Indian Cultural Center has museum displays on 

Ute culture and history, and also has arts and crafts for sale. Near Towaoc on the Ute Mountain 

Reservation, the tribe operates a pottery-producing facility where Indian women paint machinemoulded 

pottery with designs adapted from their own and Anasazi-Pueblo traditions. Tours to 

prehistoric Anasazi sites are organized through the Ute Tribal Park. Nearby is Mesa Verde 

National Park, protecting one of the largest and most spectacular concentrations of prehistoric 

Indian towns in North America, and the main attraction for tourists in the Four Corners area 

where the states of Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico border each other. The nearby 

Anasazi Heritage Center of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Dolores offers extensive 

interpretive exhibits, for all age groups, on the region's prehistory. Both the Southern Utes and 

Ute Mountain Utes operate a casino, with guest rooms available at the Sky Ute Lodge in 

Ignacio. In Montrose, the Ute Indian Museum has major exhibits on the Utes of Colorado. 

Chemehuevis live on the Colorado River and Fort Mohave Indian Reservations on the Colorado 

River in Arizona. Basketry from the Birdie Brown Collection is on display at the Colorado River 

Indian Tribes Museum near Parker, Arizona. Visitors are attracted to this desert region by the 

recreational opportunities afforded by the Colorado River, which are partially developed by the 

tribes. Hoover Dam is a major attraction in the Southern Paiute region, as is the Grand Canyon 

to the east of the area. The Nevada State Historical Society Museum in Reno has exhibits on 

the Native peoples of the state, including the Southern Paiutes, as does the Nevada State 

Museum in Las Vegas, and the Lost City Museum in Overton, Nevada. Las Vegas Paiutes live 

on the Moapa River Reservation near Moapa, and in a small community in Clark County near 

Las Vegas, where most are employed in the various branches of the casino and entertainment 

business. 

34




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38




NOTES 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

17 

18 

19 

20 

21 

22 

23 

24 

25 

26 

27 

28 

29 

D'Azevedo 1986:113-160;173-194. 

Hovens 1989:15-44. 

Hovens 1989:16-21,192,198-200,205; cf. Hallowell 1965; Tooker 1990. 

Hovens 1948b. 

Hovens 1989:45-74. 

Series 674 and 2012; Hovens 1989:131-154; 1995. 

Hovens et al. 2004. 

Hovens 1995. 

Hovens 1991. 

Hovens 1985. 

Ten Kate 1885: 114-143. 

Cf. Lowie 1924:219; Drucker 1937:2,263; Stewart 1967:16,20. 

Cf. Rogers 1936:38; Baldwin 1950:52. 

Lowie 1924:225-226; Rogers 1936:38; Baldwin 1950; Stewart 1967:16. 

Fowler and Matley 1979:84,180-181. 

1983:216-225 

Laird 1973:106. 

Cf. Smith and Simpson 1964:16,29-32; Robinson 1954:142-147. 

Cf. Smith and Simpson 1964:16. 

Cf. Lowie 1924:217-8. 

Cf. Steward 1933:277. 

Cf. Euler 1966:114-116). 

Stewart 1967:19. 

Hovens 1989; Hovens et al 2004. 

RMV 362-125; cf. Fowler and Matley 1979:11,16-22. 

Cf. Steward 1933:272-273; Fowler and Dawson 1986:725; McGreevy and Whiteford 1986; Fulkerson and 

Curtis 1995:ix,32-34,38-39. 

Ten Kate 1885:307-336. 

Ten Kate 1885:307-336. 

Goss 2000:47-49. 

39




30 

31 

32 

33 

34 

35 

Cf. Fowler and Matley 1979:79-80,173; Wroth 2000: 118-119. 

Cf. Stewart 1968:24-25. 

Clemmer and Stewart 1986:538. 

Cf. Jefferson et al., 1972:29-40; Thompson 1972:19-30; Delaney 1989:29-57; Young 1997:15-38; 

Simmons 2000:182-190, 210-215. 

Jefferson et al. 1972: 54; Simmons 2000:193,210. 

Cf. Hovens 1984a. 

40

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